Pre-India Myths

I have heard of lot of stories regarding India before my sojourn to the Incredible Land. Some I believed, some I did not. India has taught me that you really have to live the experience to defend an opinion.

Myth 1: That all Indian Ladies are beautiful and the Men, sexy.
Bollywood and the Beauty Pagents are to blame for it. Common, It is a tie between India and Venezuala for the countries with the highest winners of the Miss World title. Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra were both past winners of the title and are also Bollywood actresses. Okay, Look at Salman Khan's picture below and tell me you do not think he is sexy. Yeah, they have the really long air, but asides from the hair, most of them are just plain looking.

Aishwarya Rai

Priyanka Chopra

Salman Khan

Myth 2: India is Cheap
This is the worst myth of all, biko India is not cheap in any way. Okay, it may be cheap if you do not instantly convert the money to the Nigerian currency. For Europeans and Americans, India might be cheap, but for a Naija girl, nothing is cheap here. Asides from food which is really cheap, nothing else is cheap. Anything cheap here is of inferior quality.

Myth 3: Indians are all fair/light skinned
Dark Indians are the ones you never see in Bollywood movies or adverts. I never knew dark Indians existed till I landed in India. South Indians are generally dark and they can actually pass for Black African minus the hair or Northern Africans with the hair.

Myth 4: Indians are intelligent
An Indian asking me if Zulu is my language or is it the one who asked me which part of South Africa is Lagos situated that I should say dashed this myth for me. To the average Indian, South Africa is Africa and yes thanks to Cricket for this. I really would not be bothered if such statements were made by less educated people. MBA graduates, university graduates who probably slept through Geography class, that is if they are even taught geography in school. Hmmm, I know some people will jump on me for this. Yes, you have a lot of Indians in really high positions around the world, but damn intelligence is not by country.

I once argued with a friend about this and like I told him, I do not believe the Indians are more intelligent that Nigerians or the average Africans. If only Nigerians can channel their intelligence in the right direction. After living in this nation for 15months and meeting over 1000 Indians both at work or outside the office environment, nobody can convince me otherwise that these people are really that intelligent.

Myth 5: India is a dangerous
I would say my mind is more at ease living in India than in Nigeria. Okay, I am not saying it is really safe, there has been bomb blasts in Delhi and Mumbai, there is always news of rape on TV or Websites everyday. In India, I can go to sleep with my 2 eyes closed everyday. I do not have to worry about armed robbers or live in fear of my life.

Myth 6: The Indian Education system is better than that of Nigeria's
In 2006, there was this girl who had come to India for an AIESEC Internship with some project in Chandigarh. I hear Chandigarh is really nice and beautiful, but unfortunately I might not get a chance to visit the city. Back to my gist, this babe was supposed to come back after her internship and resume her final year Unilag. One day, babe sent me mail that she was not coming back to Nigeria again. Apparently she had visited one of their schools and fell in love with the environment and what not. After so much begging, babe finally came back home oh.

I tell you, I would rather send my child to study in Togo than send my child to study in India.The standard of education is not any better than what we have in Nigeria. The schools go on strike too like our Nigerian schools. They have students boycotting exams, chanting they are not ready for the exams (anyone remember the good old aluta days of Nigerian Universities). Indian Universities, like their Nigerian counterpart churns out a lot of unemployable graduates. Sign, what have I not seen in this country.

Myth 7: The wicked Villain who oppresses the masses and the many street fights.
Bollywood is again to blame for this, if you watch Indian movies a lot, then you will understand what I mean. There is sha always one wicked rich man or family oppressing the masses. There is always the heroes who always comes to save the girl from the bad guys.

I am yet to see any fight on the streets of India, max they shout at each other. Even in situations where if it was in Nigeria, bottle would have been flying, they just make so much noise and end the matter there.

Myth 8: Indians are very loving and hospitable.
If you greet people here, do not be surprised if your greeting is not returned. I struggled with this culture shock for many months before I was able to accept it as a way of life here.
Do not expect a thank you, when you help out or do a favour for anyone in this country. My Lithuanian team-mate/flatie was always irked by this. Just like the greetings I used to wonder why so. Indian do not see any of the above as rudeness, I definitely cannot try this in Nigeria.

If you ever get invited to an Indian home, make sure to go with an empty stomach, because you will be over fed. It is rude to refuse food offered to you in an Indian home.

Myth 9: India is hot all year round.
I remember when I arrived in December 2010, Hyderabad was really cold and JJC me had come with summer clothes. It snows in some part of India, way up North.

Myth 10: Indians all speak the same Language
Hindi is the official national language of India, but you will be surprised to know how many numbers of Indians do not understand or speak Hindi. India is filled with so many different languages, from Telugu, to Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Urdu and countless other languages which are not in any way connected with one another. Each state in India has it's own official Language. India is a a multi-cultural and multi-lingual society, Most Indians are actually multi-lingual, few of them actually speak only one Language and their Hinglish (English) sucks. India is not called a sub-continent for nothing.

5.30am, waiting for the train in Vizag to Araku Valley

Note: This is not a India bashing post
♥ Lara from Incredible India

'Lara A

16 comments:

Myths 2, 8 and 10 are really eye opening. I had no idea India was expensive. That greeting thing would take me forever to get used to 'cos Nigerians like to greet. It's as if you have to say something each time you see a person (even if you've seen them 3ce before on the same day)

Indian men, sexyyyyy? LMAO. I have worked with lots of Indian men and there aint anything sexy about them.

I always knew about black Indians. I remember last year, when working with some of them. The Indians had to be speaking English to one another because they did not understand one another's native language

I never knew half of these myths exist until now that you mention them

Myth 8 might actually be an Asian thing (I know I am sort of generalizing here, but I am sure it has some element of truth). The Chinese were like that too. So after experiencing that in China, I was able to educate my sister when I got back whenever they acted like that (especially in the subway. The expanse of diversity in life is amazing.

Nice insight. I am aware of most, if not all of these myths from some of my Indian friends in Canada and reading. As for the comment above about not greeting people being an "Asian" thing, I find this to be the complete opposite. I am greeted multiple times in a day, sometimes my students would greet me each time they see me, no matter how many times they saw me that day. Even strangers on the street like to say "Hello"

Ahhh that your #1. Beauty Pageants and Bollywood are to blame joo. Its as if they handpick their girls.#3 still makes me laff. I hear the fair North Indians hold some disdain for darker South Indian cousins. See stress.I'm surprised by #8. I really thought they were community-loving like Nigerians.

Haha! Really enjoyed this post. This reminds me of when I met an Australian girl visiting the US for the first time who thought all American girls were like the girls in Mean Girls. I had quite the laugh, but it goes to show that most of what's depicted in movies are exaggerated versions of real-life situations. It happens in Bollywood, Nollywood, Hollywood, etc.

It's interesting some of the myths you debunked though. No thank yous? But why??

Anyway, I work with a lot of Indians. The majority of them are not attractive, but there is the occasional hottie. As a matter of fact, my current (and longest-standing) crush is Indian

Truth is, I have found that not only Indians are naive about Nigeria and Africa, they probably think we're just some small village down a hill - ignorance!

I know so well that part about intelligence, i meet a lot of them on the job right here in Nigeria and all they are good at is evading documentation and rules apparently most of them cant figure out little things without held. but once they do...

OMG! Thank you Lara for sharing this. I thought they would be greeting like us here o! With all that 'Namaste' they say in their movies. In fact, their movies are to be blamed for every. Loved this post